Question about choosing a Patron Saint

[IrishRush]

I was confirmed when I was 12 and it was anything but what I see these days in confirmations. We were living in Okinawa (military family) and the bishop was going to be on the island so the whole confirmation bit was thrown together very quickly. All the Catholic kids on our base (which was pretty small) who were even remotely close to the age to be confirmed were told to choose a saint’s name. Nobody ever told me why or how to go about making the choice. When I asked my mother about it (she had converted to Catholicism when she married my father) she told me to just choose the middle name of one of my sisters. So I chose Ann. I knew nothing about St. Ann, and still don’t. I should probably read what I can but it’s confusing because I’m sure there are more than one.
OK, so now that the background is explained, the question is, can I choose a different one now? About 7 years ago I returned to practicing my faith after a long absence (about 35 years) and it means EVERYTHING to me now. I never knew what it meant to have faith before this. And I would like to re-make that choice after praying thoroughly about it. Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[green423]

I don’t know if you can change your confirmation name, but surely I would imagine you can change your patron saint!

 

[Waiting]

I was confirmed when I was 12 and it was anything but what I see these days in confirmations. We were living in Okinawa (military family) and the bishop was going to be on the island so the whole confirmation bit was thrown together very quickly. All the Catholic kids on our base (which was pretty small) who were even remotely close to the age to be confirmed were told to choose a saint’s name. Nobody ever told me why or how to go about making the choice. When I asked my mother about it (she had converted to Catholicism when she married my father) she told me to just choose the middle name of one of my sisters. So I chose Ann. I knew nothing about St. Ann, and still don’t. I should probably read what I can but it’s confusing because I’m sure there are more than one.
OK, so now that the background is explained, the question is, can I choose a different one now? About 7 years ago I returned to practicing my faith after a long absence (about 35 years) and it means EVERYTHING to me now. I never knew what it meant to have faith before this. And I would like to re-make that choice after praying thoroughly about it. Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.

St. Ann is the grandmother of Jesus. I’d keep her as my patron saint. If His grandmother can’t petition the Lord with success, who can? You know she did a fine job with Mary. We don’t know a whole lot about St. Ann, but what we do know is powerful.

 

[PattiDay]

Saint Ann is the mother of the Immaculate Conception, the Blessed Virgin. She is the woman who carried in her womb the Mother of Our Lord. She raised her up to be a Virtuous Daughter of God. She is the Grandmother of Jesus Christ.

She is a virtuous woman in her own right, and worthy of reverence. Before you think of dismissing her as your patron, at least learn what you can about her. It’s easily done by searching one of the many Catholic saints web sites.

Did you ever think that your mother’s choice of a saint’s name, rather than just a mere coincidence of being your sister’s name, may have been inspired by the Holy Spirit?

God bless.

 

[IrishRush]

OK, I did what I should have done in the first place and read about St. Ann. And as honored as I am to have her as my patron saint from my confirmation, it doesn’t seem like a good fit to me. She is known as the patron saint of mothers and women in labor. Neither of those things has ever happened to me. But in the process of reading about her I also came upon St. Albert the Great, who is the patron saint of science and has also been taken as a patron saint by lab techs, which I am. I’ve also always loved St. Luke, but he is the patron saint of physicians and surgeons, which I am not.
So now I have to ask the question, can a woman take a male saint as her patron? As I said above, I’ve always had great affection for St. Luke, mainly because of his ties to medicine, but I also have always loved St. John the Apostle because of his loyalty to Jesus and staying with him to the very end on the cross. Loyalty is everything to me - I’m an army brat and it was something I was taught from a very early age.
Somehow, with all of this reading I’ve managed to confuse myself even more I think… I would love to claim all three as my patron saints but if I have to choose only one, I really love John. But when I read the lengthy list of his patronage, I find nothing that I fit with, except maybe friendship.
What a dilemma I’ve created for myself!

 

[Waiting]

OK, I did what I should have done in the first place and read about St. Ann. And as honored as I am to have her as my patron saint from my confirmation, it doesn’t seem like a good fit to me. She is known as the patron saint of mothers and women in labor. Neither of those things has ever happened to me. But in the process of reading about her I also came upon St. Albert the Great, who is the patron saint of science and has also been taken as a patron saint by lab techs, which I am. I’ve also always loved St. Luke, but he is the patron saint of physicians and surgeons, which I am not.
So now I have to ask the question, can a woman take a male saint as her patron? As I said above, I’ve always had great affection for St. Luke, mainly because of his ties to medicine, but I also have always loved St. John the Apostle because of his loyalty to Jesus and staying with him to the very end on the cross. Loyalty is everything to me - I’m an army brat and it was something I was taught from a very early age.
Somehow, with all of this reading I’ve managed to confuse myself even more I think… I would love to claim all three as my patron saints but if I have to choose only one, I really love John. But when I read the lengthy list of his patronage, I find nothing that I fit with, except maybe friendship.
What a dilemma I’ve created for myself!

You really don’t have a dilemma. What’s to stop you from praying to whichever saint fits the picture of the problem you’re facing? You can pray to any saint, any time, or all, if you choose. It doesn’t have to be just your patron saint. Any saint can take your petition to the Lord. I like to tell people that Jesus couldn’t say NO to Mary when He walked the earth, so how can He say NO to her in heaven? It would be pretty much the same with St. Ann, His grandmother, I would guess. You really don’t have to pray just to St. Luke if you have a medical problem. You’ve got all of heaven loving you and willing to help. Many of us have a favorite that we go to for every problem.